AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Tockinit not horrible nor great

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Jimmy L. Two years after the success of THE JAZZ SINGER (1927), Warner Bros. released this all-talking, all-singing, all-star revue to capitalize on the popularity of sound pictures. THE SHOW OF SHOWS (1929) features a wide variety of acts from a roster of famous stars of stage and screen. There are lots of songs and lots of mass choreography, but also comedic bits and a dramatic scene.The movie is quite a spectacle, though nowadays its value is mostly as a curiosity for hardcore film buffs. The songs generally aren't that great and the performances aren't always polished, though everybody seems to be having fun. Much of the cast is made up of largely forgotten stars of the late silent/early sound era that most modern viewers wouldn't recognize. But it's a real treat for film historians.I'm a big fan of old movies and classic Hollywood, and many of the featured stars are obscure even to me. Most of the stars are identified at some point in the film, though countless others are mixed into scenes with little fanfare. Without identification I was able to spot Myrna Loy, Ben Turpin, Chester Morris, Richard Barthelmess, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., John Barrymore, and Monte Blue. And I'm familiar, to varying degrees, with people like Frank Fay, Winnie Lightner, Louise Fazenda, Dolores Costello, Noah Beery, and Tully Marshall.Frank Fay emcees the proceedings, tying the various acts together and introducing the stars. His verbal comedy shtick is a good fit for talkies and he does a pretty good job.An early highlight is Winnie Lightner's upbeat comedy song "Ping Pongo". Louise Fazenda, Fay, Lloyd Hamilton, and Beatrice Lillie do a recitation sketch that's pretty funny, though it stretches a little too long. There's a number featuring notable screen villains as pirate versions of themselves (singing pirates, naturally). Another features several pairs of movie star sisters, including Loretta Young and Sally Blane, who look freakishly alike. Lightner also sings "Singin' in the Bathtub", a tune I know from old Looney Tunes cartoons. John Barrymore hams it up with a Shakespeare soliloquy as Richard III.I was surprised and delighted halfway through to see an exotic number in two-strip Technicolor. Apparently most of the film was shot in color, but the surviving print is in black & white with the exception of this segment.It's great seeing so many Hollywood personalities doing fun little acts and musical numbers. Everybody seems to be having a good time, putting on a big show. Some names and faces are more recognizable than others, but the film is a fascinating glimpse at the stable of Warner Bros. talent at this transitional point in cinema history.A musical spectacular from the infancy of the sound era, THE SHOW OF SHOWS is literally presented as a stage production, with fairly static cameras and sometimes clunky framing. Sometimes the closed stage curtain fills the top three-quarters of the frame while a chorus line dances along the bottom edge. In one song voices drop out of range of the microphone as the singers move across the stage. Some of the extended crowd choreography gets tiresome, but the comedy is good for a few laughs. And it's always fun trying to identify the stars in the ensemble scenes.6/10 for entertainment value, but 7/10 as a historical curiosity.

bbmtwist This is a terrible mish mash of vaudeville acts, most of them extremely mediocre with almost all the performances worse than the level of high school students. This goes on for two and a quarter hours. Had the Technicolor survived intact, a certain charm may have been retained. As is, it's almost unendurable.Frank Fay is a lighter version of bumbling Frank Morgan and is thoroughly obnoxious. The Pirate number is stupidity beyond belief. There are many geometric dance patterns, primarily of ladies on stairs or ladders. I wonder if Busby Berkeley got his inspiration from these.For those who are interested, what follows is a list of the acts, 99% musical, in order of appearance:OVERTURE; FRENCH REVOLUTION PROLOGUE; MILITARY MARCH, SEMPER FIDELIS; WHAT'S BECOME OF THE FLORADORA BOYS?; PIRATE BAND, LADY LUCK; IF I COULD LEARN TO LOVE; DEAR LITTLE PUP; PING PONGO; LADY LUCK; THE ONLY SONG I KNOW; YOUR MOTHER AND MINE, RECITATIONS; INTERMISSION MUSIC; SINGIN IN THE BATHTUB; YOU WERE MEANT FOR ME; MY SISTER; JUST AN HOUR OF LOVE; LI-PO-LI; ROCKABYE YOUR BABY; DAISY BELL, A HOT TIME IN THE OLD TOWN; IF YOUR BEST FRIEND WON'T TELL YOU; JUMPING JACK; YOUR LOVE IS ALL I CRAVE; RICHARD III SCENE FROM HENRY VI; EXECUTION SCENE; GRAND FINALE: LADY LUCKThe only Technicolor act which survives is the lovely LI-PO-LI, a lilting Chinese fantasy danced by Myrna Loy. There are lovely tones of red, green and blue present.Winnie Lightner in her two numbers: Ping Pongo and Singin in the Bathtub provides the only talent and pizazz in the entire show - she's all personality. The high point is the John Barrymore speech as Richard III from Shakespeare's Henry VI - when you realize one of the handful of non musical acts is the best in the show, you wonder why they bothered.This is purely an artifact, just as bad as MGM's vaudeville outing THE Hollywood REVIEW, Paramount's PARAMOUNT ON PARADE and Universal's KING OF JAZZ (the latter surviving intact in red/blue Technicolor). See it not for entertainment, but to realize how shaky the days of early sound were in old Hollywood.

mark.waltz It's a mixed bag of songs, sketches, dramatic skits and gags for this early sound review. Warner Brothers went out of their way to try and out-do MGM's "Hollywood Revue", and in some aspects, they did, skewering their friendly rival's all-star early sound musical by giving it a good-hearted goose. This is an important look at Hollywood's transition from the silent era to sound, and practically every contract player takes part. The comedy skits seem extremely dated, and the photography can be a bit static, but overall, it's fun.While "Hollywood Revue" took the balcony sequence from "Romeo and Juliet", "Show of Shows" gave John Barrymore's soliloquy from "Richard III" with lavish results. A musical number entitled "Singin' in the Bathtub" takes Broadway's Winnie Lightner and gets a dig in at "Singin' in the Rain" from MGM with her hysterical delivery of the lyric, "Never Take a Shower. It's an awful pain. Singin' in the shower's like singin' in the Rain!". The over-sized bathtub and hysterically clad chorus is a sight to behold.A lavish final makes up for some of the precision numbers (marching chorus girls in a drill routine is really static), but the Myrna Loy number, "Nip-O-Li" will raise eyebrows with its stereotyping of the Asian culture. At least it gets two-strip Technicolor photography to give its audience a "wow!" moment. If you can go into this with a view of Hollywood history, you can get past the slow points, dated comedy and often offensive stereotypes.

ptb-8 This is a deliriously colossal vulgar silly all star extravaganza revue of all the early talkie stars that Warner Bros could afford. ...and like most other rarely seen films actually made during the late 20s, an unforgettable opportunity to see and hear the genuine roaring twenties' exuberance and youthfulness put to song and dance. THE SHOW OF SHOWS is pretty gigantic. Vaudeville act after soliloquy after tap dance after acrobat after comedian after fan-dance after ukulele lunacy after Rin Tin Tin who introduces 'an oriental number'...(!)... and on and on it lumbers, grinning and squeaking away in fabulous gramophone quality Vitaphone sound. It is far too long, but among it's delirious delights are the awesome "Singin in the Bathtub" number created on a scale of which The QE2 architects would be proud...Beatrice Lillie lounging by a grand piano with some happiness boys amusingly warbling a witty ditty, Nick Lucas, and the never-ending grand finale in two color color...which is all set to the song LADY LUCK. . So keen are the tubby chorus line and leaping teenagers to en-ter-tain us that they almost kick themselves repeatedly in their own faces with glee and effort. Row after row of "Doll" characters hop past and some even emerge from the floor. I kid you not, there are even girls strapped to the crystal chandeliers, mummified with shiny gauze and chained up with pearl ropes, unable to move (for days, I imagine, during production) whilst this katzenjammer of toy-box athleticism twitch and spasm below to the Ukulele orchestra. Of course I loved it and had to watch this color finale over and over and then invite friends and family to the screen for weeks on end just to horrify and terrify them each separately and to roll about on the lounge in shrieking in delight at each and every exclamation of their startled reactions. And so should you...and rejoice that there was an era when this was created simply to entertain and thrill. It is all so demented.